


Philautia

by Nike



Series: The Seven Loves of Jack Frost [2]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Drama, Gen, Relationship(s), Stream of Consciousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-16
Updated: 2014-04-16
Packaged: 2018-01-19 14:14:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1472770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nike/pseuds/Nike
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Philautia - love for ones self/self love</p><p><em>"All friendly feelings for others are an extension of a man's feelings for himself."</em> - Aristotle</p>
            </blockquote>





	Philautia

**Author's Note:**

> The 'winter lover' referenced herein is in _Agape_. It is not necessary to read that to understand this story. Quite frankly, the character's title and purpose is pretty self-explanatory.

Philautia - Self-Love

If there was one thing the lover of winter had taught Jack, it was the importance of love. Even if no one believed, love was certainly worth having. Jack had forgotten that, assuming he'd ever known. Quite frankly, he'd earned his bad reputation over the centuries and not all of his pranks had been nice. Some had been downright deadly. Having someone love everything he represented had, well, a calming effect, he supposed.

Jack had started taking more effort in her area because he wanted to see more of the winter lover's quiet joy in a silent snowfall and had seen more humans than her taking notice. It made him start taking more care in other regions, especially Burgess because it had always felt like home. And because he felt guilty that he didn't know the winter lover's name and likely never would, Jack listened to the children of Burgess and learned their names. The one who believed in pretty much everything except Jack was Jamie and his sister was Sophie and the twins were Claude and Caleb. She was Pippa and her neighbor was Monty and the cute bruiser was Cupcake of all things. 

A part of Jack wondered what would happen if he could get them to love winter, too, if it would help them to believe in him. It had hurt to have Jamie so close only for his mom to say Jack didn't exist and the boy who believed in everything take the lady at her word, even when Jack's existence would have made more sense.  
Love was also why he didn't think much of the Guardians, even before they kidnapped him and told him he didn't have a choice about joining their club. They gained belief through bribery and that inspired greed, not love. Just as extravagant gifts couldn't make up for a parent's absence, the Guardian's gifts didn't make up for their lack of presence, especially since they claimed to protect children. Worse, they thought Jack was the naive, clueless one. Ha!

Then North had pulled Jack aside to talk. The man was huge and intimidating, but when he started talking about Wonder, Jack saw his face and eyes light up the same way the winter lover's did when Jack took especial care on some big, crystal snowflakes just for her. North honestly believed he was protecting children's Wonder, too. He obviously had his heart in the right place, because there was love there, but maybe, Jack thought, he needed a push in the right direction. Jack was going to bring it up, but then Tooth's Palace was under attack and Jack decided it could wait in favor of getting away and out of whatever they were dragging him into. The next time he had a chance to think about it, Tooth was hovering over a sleeping Jamie with a sad but loving smile and wondering aloud why she'd stopped taking such a personal touch in her work.

Maybe North wasn't the only Guardian needing a nudge. And, hey, Jack was willing to give Sandy some benefit of the doubt, because of the four, he at least seemed to be trying. Heck, Jack had seen him send out dreams at every place they stopped to gather teeth. The Easter Kangaroo seemed to be a lost cause, though.

Then Sophie was in the Warren and Jack saw the moment his nudges about her got to the Guardians. The realization that crossed their faces when it got through their heads that they'd gotten so caught up in the work they were doing for the children that they'd forgotten to love and care for those same children was... interesting. A well-placed happy flake and an eager, excitable Sophie took care of the rest. By the time Easter was ready to go, Jack found Bunny holding a sleeping Sophie and looking at her with such a look of love on his face that it made Jack pause mentally. Huh. Apparently the rabbit wasn't a lost cause after all.

Bunny then turned that look on Jack and Jack found himself babbling an apology for the name calling. It was also why Jack made such a stupid mistake in insisting he be the one to take Sophie home. He both wanted to be worthy of that look and to give himself some time alone so he could think about the implications of his stomach doing happy flips in the face of that look. He wanted, Jack realized, to be loved. Him, specifically, not just what he represented. Which wasn't to say he wanted to lose the winter lover. She'd taught him what love was. He just wanted more and maybe that was selfish of him, but that didn't stop the desire.

It was a selfish desire and Jack hated himself for having it even as Pitch reached in and voiced every single fear. He was afraid of being alone, unbelieved in, because that meant no one would love him. He hadn't been helping the Guardians because he cared what happened to them. He was involved because of a chance to find out that somewhere, someplace, at some time, he had been loved and wanting to claim it. Heck, even the kids hadn't been the first thing on his mind. He hadn't really understood what the lights meant, not until he saw a bunch of unhappy kids walk right through a devastated Easter Bunny.

Worse was the realization that he'd already had something with the Guardians, that they had loved him in their own way. But, as they turned away, he realized he'd messed that up too. He'd been so full of himself, thinking he could teach the Guardians about love and not realizing that maybe he'd needed the lesson as well. And now he'd ruined it. He'd ruined everything. 

And then there was Pitch, offering love. Except he wasn't, not really. When Pitch looked at him, Jack didn't see any love. He saw, at best, greedy desire. Pitch was lonely and Jack had no doubt Pitch wanted to be loved in his own way, but he was going about it the wrong way. You couldn't make someone love you. It didn't work that way, and Jack wasn't going to help Pitch figure that out the hard way.

Giving up his staff for Baby Tooth was a bit of a no brainer. Oh, he hesitated, because it would leave him defenseless against Pitch and he knew the other spirit wasn't taking Jack's rejection well, but it was Baby Tooth. She was innocent and had people who loved her and would miss her terribly if something bad happened to her. She didn't deserve whatever Pitch had planned for her and Jack wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't at least try to save her. It ended up being a rather painful decision, but then he'd suspected it would be.

The tooth box wasn't anything he'd been expecting in the end. Jack had been hoping to find proof someone loved him and had instead found out how much he'd once loved. He remembered the fierce joy that putting a smile on his loved ones' faces had brought him. He remembered brown eyes and brown hair and eager, easy, and even fond smiles and known how much he'd cared. He'd loved them enough to do anything for them. Had actually given up everything for one of them. He was proud of what he'd done. He'd saved her, had loved her enough to give up his own life for her, and he didn't regret it at all.

Perhaps things would have been different if he'd known that earlier. If he hadn't met the winter lover, perhaps he wouldn't have been searching his memories hoping to find love. Perhaps what he would've taken from them would have been what he'd lost. Instead, he gained.

He loved Jamie, he realized. It was why it had hurt so much that he didn't believe before and why Jack wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or cry or whoop for joy now that he did. Jack loved the Guardians too. And Jack now knew that he tended to love fast and hard and with a sturdy, protective streak built in. He'd die for the people he loved, had done so once already. And, Jack thought, Pitch was about to find out exactly how hard it is to kill someone a second time.


End file.
